


Memory Lane

by Anonymous



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Friendship, Halloween, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27456751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Affected by previous predicaments, Kory isn't feeling the Halloween spirit so she remains home bored and alone until Hank happens to show up.A short one-shot.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: Anonymous





	Memory Lane

It was that festive time of the year Kory still had yet to understand: October 31st. And to be honest, she had given up trying to figure it out because as far as she knew, it was all about eating sweets and having an unhealthy desire to be scared all month long. It was a day when people of all ages, genders, and classes, would dress up and disguise themselves as creatures similar to that of the ones Kory had seen at least once in her life, especially when tagging along with her parents to do peace treaties on other planets. Earth’s Halloween, as far as she knew, would start an intergalactic war if there was no context. If any of those aforementioned races learned that Earth was simply making a mockery or beings that looked remotely similar to them, Kory would fear for humanity’s livelihood. 

Strangely enough, there was an admiration for things that would otherwise frighten people had it not been for such a holiday like this one and it was the only time it was acceptable—bugs, spiderwebs, haunted houses, ghosts stories, and scary films. To make matters oddly more depressing, Kory just knew deep down that Rachel would’ve loved every moment of this. 

Given how Rachel practically invented the goth aesthetic and regularly enjoyed horror films and books, she would undoubtedly conquer everyone at Titans tower if she weren’t at Themyscria.

Lo’ and behold, Kory was left “babysitting” yet again...at least that’s what she wanted to call it this time around. When it was just Rachel, Jason, and Gar, babysitting was technically non-existent despite having to look after them. But with Conner around, she constantly caught herself having to keep an eye on him like he was a toddler with a fork. And although he didn't ask for it, Gar had to act like an older guardian of some sort. 

Sitting on the living room sofa, wrapped in a blanket like a burrito, Kory was watching one of Gar’s all-time faves called _The Silence of the Lambs_. Not that she was scared or anything but Kory was always astonished by Earth’s cinema. No matter the genre, her eyes remained pinned to the television and she barely batted an eyelash at what people would consider too difficult to stomach.

_ BUZZ!  _ Kory suddenly heard. The Tamaranean groaned to herself and lazily reached over to grab hold of the remote control. Pausing the television at a part she anticipated would make her mouth drop, she got up and sauntered barefoot across the living room until she passed the kitchen and reached the elevator. Right beside it was a monitor with a metallic frame. Pressing a button to toggle on the screen, a platinum blonde woman, with red eyes, skin paler than usual, and a long cloak appeared before her. Looking up at the camera, the woman grinned, showing a pearly white mouth with the addition of two very pronounced canine fangs. Lifting her forearm, this allowed the cloak to lift as well, partially covering the lower half of her face. Upon the opening of her mouth, all but her soft voice was enough to send chills down anyone's spine,

“You shall let me in! I have come to drink your blood!” she proudly said with giggles in between. 

“Hey,” Dawn heard Kory’s raspy yet sensual voice on the other end.

“Hey, Kory,” she replied, dropping her arms back to her side, “Just here to go trick-or-treating with you guys as promised.”

Kory removed her finger from the intercom and sighed to herself. Glancing back up at the blue-lit screen, she could notice Dawn’s expression become smudged with confusion—probably a reaction as to why she wasn’t being allowed in sooner. Her initial enthusiasm died down and her entire face was now visible, revealing fake blood stains drawn down the corners of her lips.

“Yeah about that...” Kory started with an embarrassed smirk, “...I’ll explain when you come up.”

Just as expected, Dawn wasn’t happy about the sudden news after she was let in.

“Miss Koriand’r,” Dawn reprimanded while her hands were on her hips, “I thought we agreed that we were all going to have fun this year and do this together?”

“You did not just call me by my full name…” Kory tried to keep herself from laughing.

Even though she was disappointed, Dawn could never be upset with Kory, especially with everything she had been through this past couple of months—losing her parents, losing Donna, and having difficulty with her powers.

“Talk to me Kory,” Dawn inched closer to her, “What’s going on?”

“I just haven’t been feeling like myself lately, that’s all.”

Out of the blue, Gar appeared from out of the corridor with Conner and Krypto following close behind. Although he was was closed in his bedroom, he could hear Kory conversing with someone. So, naturally, he went out to see who it was. When he noticed it was Dawn, he went with another welcome he planned intended just for her, 

“Arg, mateys!” Gar greeted with an atrocious, gruff accent. He had on a loose-fitted dingy grey top, a brown vest, a massive belt, and vertically striped bottoms that were buried into the tops of his boots. He had on a green bandana and a patch over his right eye. In his left hand was something that gave the illusion that he had a hook for a hand,  “Guess what I am Kory!”

“A pirate?” she easily identified.

Gar cleared his throat as his smile awkwardly faded and looked at the two unimpressed women in front of him. Thinking long and hard, it was probably wrong for him to even assume that she wouldn’t know what it was just because she was from another planet. According to her, Earth was said to be the one with derivative customs and traditions that were practiced on multiple other planets that already existed for centuries.

Conner on the other hand appeared next, obviously amazed by his very own costume. He was draped head to toe in a sea blue robe with golden accents and patterns along the hems. Hugged up in his curled arm and pressed against his right biceps was a spellbook that was unable to be opened—a prop, and on the very top of his head was a pointed wizard's hat, the very same color as the robe. 

“HI, KORY!” he waved while smiling cheerfully. Looking over, he waved at Dawn equally as stunned by her costume, “Wow! Hi Da-”

“AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Dawn suddenly shrieked at the sight of something grotesque. Latching onto Kory, she kept her eyes shut until she relaxed and realized that her menacing scream was really unnecessary. 

Kory, however, yelped as a result of being startled by Dawn. Gar's eyes widened meanwhile Conner barely fidgeted. 

What freaked Dawn out? Something inhuman and tiny that waddled behind Conner’s leg. With Dawn slowly opening her eyes, both women’s eyes traveled downward and took notice of Krypto dressed up as a hairy tarantula with four hairier appendages extending out from each side—gradually thinning as they barely hovered over the floors. Just by that reaction alone, it was obvious that Krypto had won the most expressive costume of the night, and if Dawn didn’t know any better, she could’ve sworn that the adorable canine was silently reveling at the fact that he received such a reaction.

“Cool!” Conner exclaimed, keeping on his harmless smile, “Are you a banshee?!” Looking over at Gar, he gleeful gave a thumbs up and winked, “Gar’s been brushing me up on my Halloween concepts.”

“She’s a vampire,” Gar pridefully corrected while patting his companion’s broad back.

“Ooh,” Conner nodded with understanding, treating it almost as if it was something crucial to take note of. Next, he looked over at Kory, “And you’re a…” Conner began sizing her up with his bright blue eyes. He froze with the same expression on his face until it was suddenly wiped clean in the blink of an eye.  Turning, he faced Gar with a sense of apparent shame, “Gar! She doesn’t look scary. I can’t figure out what she is!”

“...Yeah, I can’t either,” Gar inched closer to the group, “Kory, why aren’t you dressed in your Halloween costume?”

Kory gulped and looked over at Dawn, hoping Dawn would at least cover for her, and as much as Dawn would've loved to, she couldn't answer a question she didn't know the answer to. So All Kory could do at this point was look back at the three blank faces staring right at her,

“I decided I won’t be going trick-or-treating with you guys.”

“Your first Halloween with us and you’re staying inside?” Gar moped.

Yeah. That hit Kory. She didn’t like letting Gar down at all but this feeling of hers just demanded that she needed to spend some time alone. Being in a group of people and required having to paint on a smile for the neighbors and she knew that too much work.

“There’s always next year?” Kory shrugged, sound unsure whether even that was true or not. This was one of the few times where they were actually not backed up with actual Titans' work and if there were lucky, they could spend time with one another.

“C’mon, Conner,” Gar sighed as he strolled past both adults.

Due to seeing his fellow comrades in such a gloomy place, this tended to make Conner feel the same and he  followed as instructed, which in turn, prompted Krypto to do the same.

Feeling disheartened, Kory couldn’t pick her eyes up from the floor. Once Gar and Conner were out of sight she looked up at Dawn with eyes beat with dread. Normally, Kory was able to pull herself up by her bootstraps and get things together but she couldn't go another day. She just needed a break from it all.  Before she couldn’t even speak, Dawn rested her hand on Kory’s forearm,

“Look, don’t worry about it,” she attempted to calm as she typically did, “I’ll try and get their minds off of it. You just...take some time to yourself. Okay?”

Kory nodded and eventually shared goodbyes with Dawn. She called everyone in the elevator with her and before the doors closed shut, they waved at Kory, who was staring directly back at them. 

* * *

With her eyes pinned to the television once again, Kory’s brows furrowed and she picked up the remote...pausing her third film of the night. She wasn’t sure whether or not it was her loneliness playing tricks on her again but she waited a couple of seconds before pressing play,

_ BUZZ! _

Yep—someone was at the door again. Although she was relieved to know that she hadn’t yet lost her cool, she was ashamed to admit that she was slightly disappointed that she couldn’t be left alone for at least one more hour. Resting her wine glass on the nearby coffee table, she kicked off her blanket and ambled to the monitor once again. With the simple press of a button, she saw a six-foot, built, blonde-haired man in a leather jacket and tapered jeans. 

On the other end, the blinking of the camera was an indicator that you were being observed, and Hank obviously took notice. Hesitantly removing a hand from a pocket, he waved at the camera,

“You gonna let me in or what?” Hank said, usually raising his voice a little more than need be when talking to the camera.

Hank was let in without question. Kory and Hank weren’t so close but Kory never forgot about the night when Hank referred to her as his friend when he tried saving her from Conner. Hank, to her, always read as bitter and a guy with an obvious chip on his shoulder whenever it came to Dick. She only ever thought of him as a coworker, much less an acquaintance. So when he referred to her as something so endearing that night of the carnival, he earned her respect. His actions to aid a struggling Tamaranean from the lethal grips of a Kryptonian clone just couldn’t go unnoticed. He put his life on the line for her and where Kory was from, that was an action that earned someone an endless amount of respect.

At this point, Hank was looking for Dawn. According to him, the last thing he knew was that she would be stopping at Titan’s Tower and he had been trying to reach her via text message all evening,

“She’s out trick-or-treating with Gar, Conner, and Krypto,” Kory enlightened.

“Well, shit, the least she could do was wait for me,” Hank sounded somewhat irritated.

Leaving her recently filled wine glass on the marble countertop in the kitchen, Kory strolled towards the living room,

“I’ll text Gar and see where they are," Kory assisted, "Maybe you can catch up to them if they haven't gotten too far.”

Hank’s eyes followed Kory up until he got a good glance at the scene paused on the television,

“Whoa,” Hank expressed openly, “Is that _A Nightmare on Elm Street_?”

“Hm?” Kory briefly looked away from her phone before having his question register, “Oh, yeah. My first time watching it.”

“Wow. I haven’t seen that since I was a kid.”

Kory was somewhat at a loss for words. Considering Hank’s age and the century in which this movie came out, Hank was only about one or two years of age. So how young was the real question,

“Trust me, this is nothing but comedy to children back on Tamaran...but,” she thought of a polite way to ask her question despite her aforementioned comment, “The rating says this isn’t really for Earth children.”

“Yeah, but that’s the best part. It was fun watching this movie behind adult’s backs…” Hank chuckled to himself, rarely showing a set of pearly whites, "I know you've certainly done some things behind your parents back. I mean, who hasn't?"

"I guess so..." Kory admitted almost embarrassed to say it aloud.  


Hank resumed,

“My brother and I used to—" but then just so happened to pause, almost like he caught himself spilling a dark secret.

The look of interest on Kory’s eventually changed into wonder.

“I’m listening,” Kory reassured after pocketing her cellphone.

“Nah, don’t worry about it.”

Hank walked in around the living room chair and sat on the sofa opposite Kory’s,

“To be honest, I’d rather just sit here and watch this,” he confessed. He took off his leather jacket, somewhat getting comfortable. However, he lagged a little as it was nearly off his brooding shoulders, “I mean...if that’s okay with you?”

“Sure,” Kory somewhat lied. However, she had to admit that it was great to know that she wasn’t the only one who wasn’t feeling the Halloween spirit. Kory walked back into the kitchen to grab her glass of wine and, just for the sake of being considerate, she offered Hank a drink. Typically, Hank wasn't much a wine guy. Instead, he preferred a good old fashioned beer.

“So everyone’s out?” Hank inquired.

“Yep.”

“Dick?”

“Attending some masquerade party with Bruce,” she ventured back into the living room, placing his bottle down with a coaster, “He invited me to come along but I just felt like staying in today. His friends were going to be there and... sometimes I just get so anxious going to those big special events.”

“Anxious?” Hank questioned, helping himself to a glass, “I never pinned you for the anxious type. How come?”

Kory sighed,

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “I've just been pretty scared of embarrassing him lately. Like, just being so caught up in my own problems and being around so many affluent people—it reminds me of back home. My parents. My sister. Being royalty.”

Hank nearly choked on his bottle, beating his chest and eventually coughing into the bend of his arm,

“Royalty?” he repeated somewhat hoarse.

“Shit…” Kory’s head fell, realizing she got too distracted by her own thoughts once again, leaving her just as staggered as Hank.

“Wait,” Hank raised a finger, “So, you  _ weren’t _ kidding when you said that?!” he tried to contain his excitement. Hank might’ve taken her off guard but her silence said more. He’d apologize for it later on but he needed to know how she even managed to keep it all a secret for so long. His eyes never left her, “Does Dick know?” Hank quizzed. His eyes examined her and he watched her bite her bottom lip with nerves. Craning his head back, he rested the back of his hand on his forehead like he was suffering from a heat stroke and immediately readjusted himself after kicking his shoes off, “Dick doesn’t even know?"

“Hank…” a mild smirk festered on her face.

"You told me...before you told Dick?!" Hank still couldn't believe.

"Hank!" Kory repeated.

“So who else knows?”

“Just Rach at this point,” Kory smiled, grinning at the mention and through of her unofficial daughter, “Donna did too…”

That’s when the mood of the entire conversation changed. Mentioning Donna had the tendency to do that. Despite so many good memories with her, people just couldn’t believe she was robbed of longevity,

“Yeah,” Hank sat back, hoping to alleviate them both of the dull spirits that recently crowded the living space with them, “Donna did always said you were one of her best friends.”

“It’s bizarre, isn’t it?” she sighed, “How we fought back in Killdeer.”

Hank only knew of Dawn’s version of that story and even she wasn’t there. So, who better to ask than the Tameranean princess herself. So what did Hank do? He alluded to wanting to hear the official story from the source herself. He wasn’t too intrusive or demanding about it, but Kory eventually picked up on it. Of course, she had no issue telling him how their unfortunate meeting started with a lasso and ended with them arguing outside of Angela’s house. No matter the situation, Kory could go on for days talking about her memories of Donna—and Hank felt the same.

At some point, Kory and Hank spoke a little longer than they anticipated. She wasn’t quite sure if it was insulting, but she had no clue Hank was capable of having such empathetic conversations, and as far as she knew, people who were empathetic often faced the most adversity growing up—something she couldn’t relate very much to. Although, her unearthly culture played a huge part in contributing to still making her empathize enough,

“Talk about a Troy rabbit-hole,” Kory chuckled. She reached forward and grabbed the remote off the table, “Let’s get this movie started.”

Luckily for Hank, Kory was only about fifteen to twenty minutes into her film. So, for the sake of Hank and the difficult memory that obviously brought a smile to his face, she restarted the film.

Nearly two-hours of severe blood and violence did nothing but make them ogle and gawk. Now that Kory wasn’t alone, she had to calm her reactions to jump scares, remembering to rest her wine glass down to avoid spilling, and ever so often resting her mahogany hands on her chest and exclaiming, “ _ Oh, Gosh! _ ” in the softest way. Hank, on the other hand, loved every minute of it and carefully chose was parts to laugh at, because even though there was definitely some crude humor, he laughed at inappropriate moments too, merely at the fact at how outdated and unrealistic they looked considering how often he saw these things up close and personal now that he was an adult. Once the film was over, Kory did as she always did and watched the credits roll, taking a mental note of actor's, director's, and producer's names,

“I can’t believe I forgot how good this was,” he smiled from ear to ear—an expression Kory rarely saw from Hank.

“I-I think I’m gonna have to talk to Gar about watching this stuff unsupervised,” Kory laughed in embarrassment.

“Eh, he’s sixteen,” Hank gestured dismissively, “Trust me, he’ll find a way to watch it regardless. Besides, he’s seen worse,” he said before cracking open a second beer bottle. Before he could bring the tip to his lips, he realized Kory giving him a look of admiration. Awkwardly, he froze, unsure of how to translate it, “Uh? Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” she shook her head, “I just had a hard time not noticing the way this movie brought you so much happiness.”

“Oh,” Hank’s gaze broke from her. He proceeded to take two large gulps, almost like he was drowning out his smile in the process. Returning the bottle back to the coaster, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “Yeah, it just brings back a lot of memories.”

“Good memories?”

Hank knew where Kory was going with this and he understood that she just wanted him to open up to her in the same way she did. His eyes dropped to the floor and he took a deep breath before opening up something he considered a personal can of worms,

“My brother and I watched this a few times when we were teens.”

“How old were you both at the time?”

“I think he was about twelve at the time. I was at least fourteen,” he reminisced, "God, he was so scared." 

Kory followed up with a giggle,

“What?” Hank shrugged back with a smirk.

“Nothing,” Kory shook her head, “Talk like that just brings memories of my sister also.”

“Wait,” Hank’s brows twitched, “You have a sister?”

“Yes,” Kory let out a sigh like it was held within the rest of her secrets for all these years, “However, we were never quite close like how you make it sound for you and your brother. We have some memorable moments together but…” Kory stopped herself. 

Her personal feelings were getting to her again just thinking about the last interaction with her sister. She wasn’t quite sure whether the murder of her parents was something Komand’r really had the gall to do, but she did pull Kory’s hand when it came to reducing Faddei to ash. Kory suddenly became choked up and began zoning out, which wasn’t very hard for Hank to take notice of.  Clearly, there was some bad blood between Kory and her sister and Hank was glad to not know what that feeling was like. The closest he could come to it was when he and his brother would have arguments, and the worst feeling was they would go days or weeks without talking. The fact that Kory had been on this planet for months on end and not once ever mentioned her sister, much less a family, really proved to Hank that Kory’s lineage wasn’t something she was too fond of bragging about. To take the focus off of her thoughts for a moment and give her peace, Hank thought it would be best to entrust her,

“My brother died.”

Kory’s green eyes darted at him,

“Ugh, Hank…” she shook her head, almost embarrassed at the fact that she couldn’t pick up on the severeness of this topic any sooner. She knew he was avoiding something but had no idea it would relate to a loss in the family, “I’m truly sorry to hear that. I should’ve just minded my business...”

“Nah," he refused, "It’s fine,” Hank got rather comfortable. He crossed his legs with an obnoxious man-spread and crossed his arms with a beer bottle still in hand, “And I lost my mom to cancer. I never really opened up to anyone about it either so...”

“Well, my sister isn’t dead but…” Kory looked down and adjusted the blanket over her legs almost as a way of hesitance to admit her next sentence, “I’m sure she wishes I was.”

Hank paused, not really knowing how to process those words. A lot of people wanted the Titans dead, but not ever did Hank expect it to be a sibling of a fellow teammate—especially someone like Kory.

“Sounds like a pretty toxic relationship,” Hank responded, taken aback.

All Kory could do was nod. It wasn’t perplexing or anything but there had been a revelation of things ever since she last spoke to her through Faddei,

“She was always treated like the black sheep of the family,” Kory confessed, “I mean, it doesn’t justify anything horrific she’s ever done but…” Kory paused, “I could’ve stood to be there for her a lot more when she needed me. We all could’ve,” to put a final note on things, Kory thought it would be best to let Hank know exactly how extreme Komand’r was and the ugly acts she committed just to put things into perspective, “She killed our parents recently.”

Hank was really at a loss for words this time, but he firmly agreed with Kory’s initial statement about being more appreciative of one's family. Nothing felt worse or more humiliating than being mistreated by the ones who were supposed to love and protect you and the only way he could ever relate to that was through the crappy step-fathers his mother constantly snuck into he and his brother’s life growing up,

“Seems like we both have some family traumas we could be better off doing away with, huh?” Hank concluded. He watched as Kory somewhat acknowledged and leaned over to pour herself another glass of wine. However, before she could take a sip he stopped her, “How about we make a toast…” he said holding up his bottle.

Kory pursed her lips as a faint smile appeared,

"A toast?" she watched him respond with a single nod,  “Yeah, but a toast to what?”

“Uh…” Hank ran through his mind like he was fishing through a closet. When he found the right words he slightly raised his drink into the air, “A toast to forgiveness. Forgiving ourselves most importantly...” he watched Kory’s eyes somewhat dim, “Because I can tell there are some things you’re beating yourself up over...and I know for a fact there are some things I wish I could’ve done better...” he raised his bottle again after it slightly faltered, “So, to forgiveness.”

Just then, Kory had another epiphany and it was that Hank was now someone she could trust and that if the going ever got tough she could depend on him. All she hoped at this point was that he saw her in the exact same manner. Kory smiled and raised her wine glass from her glazed lips,

“For forgiveness,”

_ Clink! _


End file.
